The Ypsilanti City Council approved a plan to restripe the road and add new signage to alleviate some of the confusion caused by the changes implemented last October.

In the coming months, the city and its engineering firm, OHM, will study traffic counts and patterns to get a better picture of whether the switch from four to three lanes is beneficial. The findings and a recommendation on what to do with the road will then be brought back to council.

The diet reduced the road from four lanes with two traveling in either direction to three lanes with one traveling in each direction, a dedicated left turn lane and bike lanes.

The project was proposed when the Washtenaw County Road Commission and Ypsilanti Township completed a road diet from Hewitt Road to the city border. The Road Commission and city agreed to restripe Michigan Avenue up to West Ainsworth at a cost of $7,000.

But City Manager Ralph Lange said the job was planned and completed hastily and poorly. The new striping wore off and old striping is still visible, and that has led to confusion and complaints that the road is now more dangerous.

Council Member Ricky Jefferson also questioned why traffic counts and studies are being done after the diet’s completion.

“We did this, but without having a full analysis … so it doesn’t mean what was done will make (the road safer),” he said.

City Planner Teresa Gillotti stressed during a presentation on the project that its purpose was to reduce accidents, slow traffic and create a more hospitable environment for pedestrians and bicyclists.

“The number one goal is reduction in the number of crashes,” she said. “There are a large number of left hand turns in this segment of road… and more of a likelihood of cars slowing down and getting rear ended, sideswiped, those sort of things.”

Road Commission officials have previously said four-lane roads were commonly built in the late 1970s and 1980s, but are rarely constructed now because of safety issues. Roads are more frequently built with three or five lanes, as there is further west on Michigan Avenue.

One-hundred eighteen accidents were recorded on the stretch of road between 2007 and 2012, the majority of which were rear ends or sideswipes. Gillotti said the bulk of those were likely caused by cars stopping to turn left into any of the 23 curb cuts leading into side streets or parking lots.

The city’s portion of road is roughly half the length of the township's segment that received a diet, yet both saw about the same amount of accidents over a five-year period.

That indicates the road is dangerous in the four-lane format, said OHM Engineer Mark McNamara, and he added that the traffic counts and accident data the firm does have makes him suspect it will recommend keeping the diet in place.

“I don’t expect the recommendation will be that the diet needs to be removed and put back to four lanes,” McNamara said when asked by council member Susan Moeller, who was critical of the diet.

That stretch of Michigan Avenue runs through Ward 1. Its representatives, Jefferson and Mayor Pro Tem Lois Richardson, say they have regularly heard complaints since the restriping.

Richardson added that she has never seen a bike traveling Michigan Avenue since the lanes were painted on and said she was more concerned with traffic passing in the left turn lane.

“People use the left hand turn lane and they go barreling past, and I see that as a real hazard,” she said. “And I’m not opposed to the whole thing per se, but I think it needs to be worked on.”

Richardson’s comment that no one is using the bike lanes drew scoffs from five cyclists in the audience who said they previously avoided the road but now bike it regularly.

Also at issue is the lane reduction on westbound Michigan at West Ainsworth, which is poorly striped and can force two motorists travelling side by side to suddenly need to merge into one lane without notice. Officials said the striping could be adjusted and signage will be put in place.

Council Member Pete Murdock said the diet has a number of positives and noted that it’s in line with the city’s non-motorized transportation plan.

“In general I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “I have not seen the issues that people are seeing, and I’m not saying they weren’t there. But if traffic has been slower, then mission accomplished. That’s what it’s supposed to do.”

The Road Commission will pay for the restriping, and Council Member Dan Vogt said he supports moving forward with the new project and study.

“The study is a necessary cost, and it’s reasonable to make sure we get it right in the long term,” he said.

Jefferson said he would ultimately support moving forward with the restriping and study.

“My reasoning for supporting is when this was first done, residents were complaining and asking about it, and I didn’t have any data or anything,” he said. “Now I can give them something. All I could say before is ‘I don’t know.’”